Mefferts' indictment hints at more to come: Stephanie Grace

In announcing Friday's grand jury indictment against former Nagin administration Chief Technology Officer Greg Meffert, his friend and former city contractor Mark St. Pierre, and Meffert's wife, Linda, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten emphasized that "the investigation that yielded today's indictment is not over."

Now, Letten pretty much always says that, or something like it, whenever he unveils some new public corruption case. This time, though, there are a few reasons to think he's really serious.

One is the sheer quantity of charges, 63 in all, of conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, making false statements and filing false tax returns, all part of an alleged scheme in which Meffert used his post to secretly steer at least $4 million in no-bid city work to his friend in exchange for more than $860,000 in cash, membership dues and credit card purchases.

A second is the surprising prominence of Linda Meffert.

Greg Meffert is named in 46 of the 63 counts, with the rest applying just to St. Pierre. Linda Meffert is named in every single one of the corruption charges her husband faces, even though she never held a government post and, on her own, had no access to the public purse.

Most of the specific acts described are things the Mefferts are accused of doing together. They used a credit card billed to one of St. Pierre's companies to cover all manner of personal purchases (although presumably the strip club charges were Greg Meffert's alone). They filed tax returns as a couple. They let St. Pierre, through an intermediary, pay for house cleaning and lawn services, pool maintenance, a new roof, fence repair and landscaping. A $38,000 check from a St. Pierre company, which Linda Meffert said was payment for accounting work the feds say she never did, was made out in both their names.

Nobody would argue that the wife of an allegedly corrupt former official would be a major trophy, so you've got to wonder why the feds went after her so hard.

One possible answer is that it isn't about her at all. Maybe Letten and his team think that Greg Meffert might plead guilty in order to protect his wife. Or perhaps the feds have some other trophy in mind -- one they think one or both Mefferts, given the right motivation, can help them win. And you've got to admit, the prospect of their young children growing up without at least one parent around could make for some pretty serious motivation.

The theoretical trophy could be anyone with whom the accused did business. One name on tongues across the city is Meffert's former boss, Mayor Ray Nagin, who took several vacations on St. Pierre's dime (courtesy of Meffert's credit card).

At the press conference, Letten refused to discuss the possibility that the investigation might be moving in the mayor's direction. And he insisted that "we do not charge people to gain leverage in negotiations."

Again, Letten always says that. He has to.

But the fact is that authorities have significant discretion in these cases.

For the opposite extreme, look at the prosecution against former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson. Jefferson's wife Andrea was the manager of the ANJ Group, a company formed in the name of the couple's children, which Jefferson pressured telecom executive Vernon Jackson to pay in exchange for the then-congressman's help in landing contracts to do business in Africa. Andrea Jefferson was named an unindicted co-conspirator, suggesting the government believed she personally participated in a criminal transaction. So was Bill Jefferson's brother Mose, a player in several of the alleged schemes described in the Jefferson indictment, even though the feds went on to indict him in two unrelated corruption schemes.

Ask lawyers to speculate, and they'll generally say that authorities didn't bother with other players because Bill Jefferson was at the top of the pyramid.

Now, you could argue that Meffert himself, a powerful former mayoral confidant who, as the indictment points out, assumed the nonexistent title of deputy mayor, would be a pretty big fish. The indictment's details suggest that the feds may also have their eye on a bigger one.

Stephanie Grace can be reached at sgrace@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3383.